Rainy Saturday
by selahi
Summary: Katie Bell spends an awkward-and enlightening-afternoon with her Quidditch captain.


Katie Bell sighed and looked out the rain-soaked window, laying down her quill. A brief survey of the library told her what she already knew: she was one of the very few people still in the library.

_It's all Snape's fault_, she told herself for the thousandth time that afternoon. After all, the essay she was struggling over was an extra assignment he'd given her as a punishment for helping Cormac McLaggen with his Pepperup Potion. Just thinking about it made her angry again—and left her in no mood to write eighteen inches on the magical quality of pomegranate.

She stood up suddenly, blood rushing to her feet and giving her pins and needles. She paced past the shelves and back again. She turned to the window again, examining the grounds outside rather than focusing on the rain.

Steely gray clouds covered the sun completely, making the early afternoon look like late evening. The lake reflected the clouds, the water choppy and capped with white.

"Well, well, well, Bell, I never thought I'd find you here," a voice came from behind. Footsteps approached. "Never took you as a bookworm," her Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood, said, taking the seat facing Katie.

"Shhh," Katie said, looking around. "Madam Pince might hear you, and I'll get in even more trouble!"

"I never took you for a troublemaker, either," Wood said, grinning. "What're you in for?"

"Helping McLaggen in Potions," Katie muttered. "I don't even _like _him, the git, he's one of the most _annoying_—" Wood laughed.

"If anyone could get in trouble for being smart and helpful, it's you," he said. Katie blushed, even though it probably wasn't even a compliment.

"Leave it to Snape," she said, pulling her book towards her as she sensed Madam Pince's presence nearby.

Wood had just begun to speak when Katie's fears were realized. "_Shhhhhhh_!" she hissed from behind a bookshelf.

Wood silently chuckled at Katie's horror-stricken face. "You're going to get me in more trouble!" she whispered, raising her eyebrows.

"What, you want me to leave?" Wood whispered back. "I'm all you've got, Bell. Besides Snape, I mean."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Fine, just keep yourself busy. I'm serious, I don't need detention on top of this essay."

But even though Wood kept to himself, designing complex Quidditch plans and muttering to himself about formations and strategies, Katie just couldn't concentrate on pomegranates anymore. She just couldn't help but _notice_ him: rubbing his forehead, twisting his quill between his fingers, brushing his hair away from his eyes. He started loosening his tie and Katie put down her quill and stared.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, looking from Katie to his tie to the empty air behind him. "Is Pince back?"

Katie jarred herself and shook her head. "No, no, just staring into space," she practically yelped. What was she _doing_?

He just shook his head, grinning, and resumed his muttering, prodding the parchment with his wand. Seven figures started flying around the sketched Quidditch pitch.

_Pomegranate is a necessary ingredient to Strengthening Solution, but the order of ingredients is most important in the potion's composition. Added before the salamander blood and knotgrass, the juice will cause the potion to congeal and emit a foul odor. It is also necessary to…._

Katie put down her quill again. She just _couldn't_ concentrate on Potions anymore. She pulled out her tape measure. Fifteen inches. She groaned.

"What?" Wood whispered, looking at her parchment.

"I can't do this anymore," Katie said, tapping her parchment to dry the ink there. "Snape'll just have to give me detention, or something, I can't focus on Potions at _all_."

Wood laughed. "Three inches is _nothing_, just write a conclusion or something—" He snatched her essay. "Why are you writing so small?"

Katie crossed her arms. "It's not _small_, it's _normal_," she said, flexing her fingers. "Snape would _notice_ if I wrote too big on purpose."

"Well, he will now," Wood said, shaking his head and grinning. "You should see _my _homework. Three feet for Binns is barely five paragraphs."

Katie took her essay back. "Just let me finish," she said.

Wood looked confused. "I've been good! I was _quiet _until you started talking," he protested.

Katie blushed and quickly returned to _100 Most Common Potion Ingredients_, scratching her quill noisily against her parchment. _What is _wrong _with me? _she asked herself, blushing even more just thinking about how weird she must appear. _This is _Wood_, for goodness sake. Keep it together here, Katie._

She started to stretch out her legs and snatched them right back again, face flaming, wishing nothing more than to jump out the window into the stormy lake. There was about an inch between Katie's nose and her book, as she had bent so far over it to avoid Wood's gaze. _This is just awful_, Katie thought. _Why on _earth _I should feel this awkward around Wood is ridiculous. He's a sixth year, for God's sake, and my Quidditch captain, and I've known him for four years, and he's dating that Ravenclaw fifth year Shannon Fawcett, isn't he? _She nearly asked him, but decided that _that_ would be the icing on the cake of weirdness, and snapped her head back to her assignment. _Just finish the essay, Katie, and run away as fast and as far as you possibly can._

But now Wood was prodding her with the ruler he'd been using to draw the pitch to scale.

"What?" Katie hissed, looking up. He grinned. _He sure is getting a kick out of being in the library on a Saturday_, Katie thought. _What a strange boy._

"You were muttering to yourself," he told her. "'Just finish the essay, Katie, and run away as fast and as far as you can.' What, you don't like me? I'm hurt."

Katie took a deep breath and laughed unconvincingly. "No, of course not," she said hastily, then realized what she'd said. "Er—I mean—of course I _like _you—er—"

He raised his eyebrows. "You _like _me? Now, now, Bell, this _is _serious."

Katie's face was enflamed again, and she gasped for air for a few minutes until she realized he was joking. "Right, definitely," she forced a laugh. A strange look crossed his face for a moment, and then he started packing his things up.

"Come on, Bell, let's get back to the tower. Pince is about to kick us out, anyway." Katie looked around, and sure enough, Madam Pince was lurking behind a large arboricola tree with a sour expression on her face.

They reached the Fat Lady's portrait, gave her the password ("Mimbulus mimbletonia"), and climbed into the common room. "So you like me, do you?" Wood said.

"Oh, would you just let it go?" Katie groaned. "No, I don't think I can," he replied, winking. "Since I like you, too—"

And with a grin and a wink, he bounded up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, leaving Katie clutching her Potions essay and staring after him in shock.


End file.
